As reported

Circle over Cary, IL

A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.

The report, as filed

I was taking my parent’s dog outside. Today was a clear day - blue skies and no clouds where this happened. I looked up and saw 4 objects flying very high. At first they flew in a line. But then they started to change formations. First they went into an arrow formation, then back into a line...it just kept changing. They were all silver in color. I know they weren’t commercial airliners or jets because there was no trail behind them. I called my dad outside and he witnessed it too. I was too stunned to grab my phone 😞

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #155585). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.

Ask for the records

What would the paper say?

For a dated, located U.S. sighting, FAA radar data and ATC communications are the records most likely to exist. Through Aletheca, the house instrument, anyone can commission the request — filed, chased, and published in the open, refusals included. The draft goes over already written: the records sought, and the date window they would live in.

Commission this request on Aletheca →

Routed to: Federal Aviation Administration · records window 2020-04-18 → 2020-05-05

From the same sky

Related entries

September 5, 2015 · 10:30 PM · LIGHT

Cary, IL

I was in a room of my house that has a skylight which gives a view of the Eastern sky located directly above my home. I was peering out the skylight when a very bright ORANGE light/orb drifted across my field of view. It appeared to be traveling at the same height and speed that a small, single-engine Cessna would usually cruise. It had no traditional blinking red, green, or white lights. It was a solid, non-flickering orange light/orb traveling almost exactly at a Northwest heading (coming from the Southeast). My best judgement is that it would've flown on a diagonal vector directly over Briargate Elementary School. Once it escaped my field-of-view, I ran to another window, this time on the Western side, to try and find it. There were a few trees obstructing my view and I had no luck relocating it. I listened for any engine or propeller noises and could not hear any. At the same time, for the heck of it, I scanned the entire Western horizon and did see what appeared to be a very faint, distant orange light. However, at that distance, I can not: A) say for sure that this was the same light that I saw before nor B) categorize it as something unusual. O'Hare Airport, Lake In The Hills Airport (small aircraft), and a Flight For Life helipad are not that far from my home. I am a pretty big aviation enthusiast as well. Needless to say, I feel I have a pretty good handle on what normal air traffic looks like in my area. This was definitely something unusual. I have never seen anything like this before, not just near my home but anywhere. I did some online research and found the following could explain what I saw: 1) Satellite - I'm not too sure about this. Again, the light was very bright and pretty close to the ground. 2) A nearby planet - Same with above, the light was very bright, too close to the ground, and moving too quickly. 3) Chinese lantern - This has some merit. The orange color could explain it. However, it was moving faster than Chinese lanterns travel and there was no flickering/glimmering to the light source. Also, there was only one light and usually Chinese lanterns are released in clusters. Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD

August 27, 2011 · 8:30 PM · FIREBALL